Beyond Mozart

September 14, 1988

By Pearl Bloch Segall

From between the pages of middle life riddled with impatience to succeed at something other than parenting (yet strangely intent on slowing days to a leisurely pace, on never having to meet deadlines face to face) protrudes a marker, a catch-breath signal worthy of extended examination. And encircled in the most vivid shade of indelible blue lie suggestions to move beyond Mozart - to push a frantic pace past the memorized mazurkas and sonatas, the stringent etudes and dry five-finger exercises of permanence, and burst for a moment into rock - simply to test the sturdy feel of other beats beneath my feet while I'm still erect and capable of catching my balance should I begin to fall.